loot Workshop Photos Given

(9335) [2007-11-26 18:32:37] [5]

Hi Luc

Done a quick workshop to try and put some spark of colour back into this flower and to remove the noise in the background. Unfortunately it seems like the file had some adverse processing done to it already as it was rather pixelised and it was only 62kB to start with (49kB after download) so there wasn't really much to work with.

Anyway, what I did was:

1. Selected the background with the "Magic Wand" and "Lasso" tools.
2. Removed the noise by running Neat Image twice at its standard settings.
3. Inversed selection so that only the flower was selected.
4. "Contrast" +7.
5. "Brightness" -2.
6. "Saturation" +8.
7. Added a dash of "Red" with "Variations" and the slider set to "Fine".
8. Adjusted "USM" at 95% amount, 0.3 radius, and 0.0 threshold.
9. Deselected all, selected "Save for Web", and adjusted the "Quality" upwards to 189kB.

Probably not all that successful a workshop, but as I mentioned it was a very thin file to work with. Whatever, I hope you like the slight optimisation.

Best regards
Loot

Tanzania

Title: Cheetah on the huntFuji FinePix S5000

Cheetah on the hunt (4)
fiftysomething

(578)

Adobe Photoshop CS2

(9335) [2007-11-21 18:31:43] [7]

Hi Mike

As I said, this is a lovely capture and all I tried to do with this workshop was to bring out some spark in the colour tones. Thanks for allowing workshops to be posted.

Post processing optimisation:
1. "Levels" adjustment on the "Histogram" by decreasing the "White" slider until it moved slightly into the graph (at 210), increasing the "Black" slider until it moved slightly into the graph (at 38), and balancing the "Mid-tones" slider to darken the image (at 0.97).
2. "Contrast" +9.
3. "Brightness" +7.
4. "Saturation" -6.
5. Added "Warming Filter (85)" at 25% "Density".
6. Added "Magenta" with "Variations" and the slider set to "Fine".
7. Selected the cheetah with the "Magic Wand" and "Lasso" tools.
8. Adjusted "USM" at 95% amount, 0.3 radius, and 0.0 threshold.
9. Selected the top half of the photo (just below the bottom line of the road and excluding the cheetah's head) with the "Magic Wand" and "Lasso" tools.
10. Applied "Gaussian Blur" at 0.6 radius.
11. Deselected all, selected "Save for Web", and adjusted the "Quality" upwards to 195kB.

Unfortunately I made no notes while I did the optimisation and had to retrace my steps after saving the image, so the above values should be seen as approximate settings.

I see you used Photoshop Elements 5.0 and I used Photoshop CS2, but I think you should be able to reproduce most of the steps set out above.

I hope you like the result.

Best regards
Loot

Netherlands

Barn Owl (30)
goutham_ramesh

(8787)

Adobe Photoshop CS2

(9335) [2007-08-28 09:26:07] [4]

Hi Goutham

I merely selected the darker areas of the owl's face and body and applied a bit of "Levels" adjustment. Then just for the fun of it I increased the "Saturation" +8, and applied "Smart Sharpen" at 50% and 0.3 radius.

Hope you don't mind my attempt too much.

Best regards
Loot

South Africa

Title: Aquarium Photos - Tips & Techniques 3Cannon EOS 350D

Aquarium Photos - Tips & Techniques 3 (84) *
loot

(9335)

Supplement photo

(9335) [2007-07-25 21:34:15]

A typical problem one might encounter when working with a fill-in flash in a crowded aquarium. Some of the light from the flash will bounce off the glass and illuminate any other object that is close enough to reflect back on the glass and you may end up with a perfect double vision of an unwanted or ghost image on your shot.

While you are busy paying attention to the movement of the fish and trying to find the best opportunities to capture interesting specimens or activities and you still need to concentrate on camera settings as well you may not realise how other viewers might have encroached your working space and the result could end up something like this shot.

Title: Checkered WhiteCanon 350D (Digital Rebel XT)

Checkered White (72)
Ken52

(4181)

Adobe Photoshop CS2

(9335) [2007-07-22 12:00:30] [8]

Hi Ken

The exact same goes for this second workshop which was also done to try and answer the questions you asked on the forum. I merely wanted to demonstrate my point that technically your photo is great as far as the captured detail is concerned. The only improvements is in the optimisation I suggested in the thread.

Contained in the discussion starting with your question, "Getting the best detail from a lens", Gert's "Answer", my "Question", your "Reply", and my "Explanation".

A couple of small steps:-
1. Adjusted the "Levels" on the Histogram. Moved the white slider to 241, the black slider to 4, and the mid-tones slider to 0.92.
2. Contrast +6.
3. Brightness -3.
4. Saturation +6.
5. USM - 300%, 0.2, and 0.0.
6. Selected entire BG and ran NeatImage once on default settings.

Even though you seemed to be much more satisfied with your result of the original posting of this Checkered white compared to the result you achieved with the Orange sulphur I am sure you will agree that there are much more texture and detail visible on the butterfly in the workshop.

Best regards
Loot

Title: Orange SulphurCanon 350D (Digital Rebel XT)

Orange Sulphur (50) *
Ken52

(4181)

Adobe Photoshop CS2

(9335) [2007-07-22 11:40:02] [9]

Hi Ken

This first workshop was done to try and answer the questions you asked on the forum. I did a quick workshop to illustrate what I meant about the level of PP work. Please note that I did not attempt a full workshop as I did not even address the flower. I merely wanted to demonstrate my point that technically your photo is great as far as the captured detail is concerned. IMHO the only improvements would be in the suggestions Gert made and in the optimisation I suggested in the thread.

Contained in the discussion starting with your question, "Getting the best detail from a lens", Gert's "Answer", my "Question", your "Reply", and my "Explanation".

A couple of small steps:-
1. Adjusted the "Levels" on the Histogram. Moved the white slider to 225, the black slider to 6, and the mid-tones slider to 0.80.
2. Contrast +6.
3. Brightness -3.
4. Saturation +6.
5. USM - 300%, 0.2, and 0.0.
6. Selected entire BG and ran NeatImage once on default settings.

I hope you will agree that there are considerable more texture and detail visible on the butterfly in the workshop.

Best regards
Loot

Northern Cardinal (50)
jaycee

(15717)

Adobe Photoshop CS2

(9335) [2007-07-15 10:34:07] [4]

Hi Jane

Let's see...Where do I begin?

1. Applied NeatImage 1x at default setting to the full image.
2. Adjusted "Levels" on the RGB channel to address the black, white, and mid-tone points.
3. Selected the BG with the "Magic Wand" and the "Lasso" tools.
4. Ran NeatImage 2x at default setting to rid the noise.
5. Inversed the selection so the bird, foliage, plastic line, and the post was selected.
6. Applied USM at 500%, 0.2 radius, and 0.0 threshold.
7. Neatened the chromatic aberrations that appeared around some of the leaves.
8. "Saved to Web".

Just remember that I did not have the original file to work with and some of the inherent defects (or nits) that already existed becomes enhanced when trying to do further PP on it. Like for example the chromatic aberrations around the leaves that already existed in the posted photo, but I tried to remove that as much as possible without overdoing the smooth transition from the one colour to the next. Take note that I did not adjust the "Saturation" although the colours seems to have improved. This change was only due to the "Levels" adjustment. However, I hope you agree that the details came out considerably sharper and the noise was mostly removed.

Kind regards
Loot

Spain

Title: Teucrium pseudochamaepytisFuji Finepix S9500

Teucrium pseudochamaepytis (55)
jmp

(8406)

Adobe Photoshop CS2

(9335) [2007-07-14 19:32:58] [11]

Hi Jose

In my humble opinion all the right building blocks was in place to optimise this photo quite successfully. However, to address all the aspects as mentioned in my critique I made the following adjustments:

1. "Levels" adjustment on the "Histogram" by decreasing the "White" slider until it touched the graph (at 228), increasing the "Black" slider until it touched the graph (at 7), and balancing the "Mid-tones" slider to darken the image (at 0.82).
2. "Contrast" +5.
3. "Brightness" -4.
4. "Saturation" +3.
5. Selected the BG with the "Magic Wand" and "Lasso" tools.
6. Added "Cyan" with "Variations" and the slider set to "Fine".
7. Ran NeatImage once at default settings.
8. Inversed the selection so that only the flowers and stems were active.
9. Added "Red" with "Variations" and the slider set to "Fine".
10. Adjusted "USM" at 300%, 0.3 radius, and 0.0 threshold.

I hope you like the result.

Best regards
Loot

Dueling Longwings (88)
scottevers7

(12259)

Adobe Photoshop CS2

(9335) [2007-07-14 17:38:27] [6]

Hi Scott

A quick workshop to adjust the following:

"Levels" by decreasing the white slider and balancing the mid-tones.
Selected the butterflies and the flower with the "Magic Wand".
"Saturation" +8.
"Contrast" +5.
"USM" on 100%, 0.3 radius, and 0.0 threshold.
Inversed selection to activate only the BG.
"Brightness" -8.
Finally I ran NeatImage once at default settings.

I hope you like the result.

Best regards
Loot

Title: The "Cameraless" ManPentax Optio A10

The "Cameraless" Man (74)
marhowie

(34859)

Adobe Photoshop CS2

(9335) [2007-07-11 20:46:55] [6]

Hi Howard

This was really just a quick "fun" workshop, to humour you as I said. I am not trying to "prove" or show anything beneficial to you or anyone else (chuckle).

Quick "Levels" adjustment, Saturation +8, a very rough selection of the animals and a bit of USM sharpening.

Enjoy your day and I hope that camera comes swiftly.
Regards
Loot